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The Cloud Minders
' |image= |series= |production=60043-74 |producer(s)= |story=David Gerrold Oliver Crawford |script=Margaret Armen |director=Jud Taylor |imdbref=tt0708456 |guests=Jeff Corey as Plasus, Diana Ewing as Droxine, Charlene Polite as Vanna, Fred Williamson as Anka, Ed Long as Midro, Kirk Raymone as Cloud Guard #1, Jimmy Fields as Cloud Guard #2, Garth Pillsbury as Prisoner #1, William Blackburn as Lt. Hadley, Harv Selsby as Guard, Marvin Walters as Troglyte #2, Louie Elias as Troglyte #1, Jay Jones as Prisoner #2, Richard Geary as Cloud City Sentinel #1 and Bob Miles as Cloud City Sentinel #2, |previous_production=The Lights of Zetar |next_production=The Way to Eden |episode=TOS S03E21 |airdate=28 February 1969 |previous_release=The Way to Eden |next_release=The Savage Curtain |story_date(s)=5818.4-5819.3 (2268) |previous_story=The Lights of Zetar |next_story=The Way to Eden }} Summary The Enterprise arrives at the planet Ardana on a mission to retrieve the mineral zenite, which is needed to halt a vegetation plague on the planet Merak II. Captain Kirk wishes to speed along the negotiations for the mineral and beams down directly to the zienite mines with First Officer Spock, despite Ardana's leader High Advisor Plasus's request to beam to the floating city of Stratos. Once Kirk and Spock arrive at the mine, they are surrounded by angry miners and a savage brawl ensues. During the struggle, Kirk notices a strange yet beautiful woman among the rioters. Plasus quickly arrives with a security force, who easily drives the rioting miners off, then invites Kirk and Spock to go with him back to the city immediately while his people search for the zienite. Once on the floating city, Kirk and Spock are entertained as guests until the zienite can be procured from the mines. They learn that the people of Ardana are divided between the labor-class Troglytes, who work hard in the dangerous mines, while the elite city-dwellers reap all the profits and live in luxury. Currently the Troglytes are rebelling against the elites, and, unknown to Kirk, the city's police have captured a Troglyte who had sneaked into the city and defaced priceless artwork. Instead of divulging the leader of the rebellious workers, the man jumps to his death from a city balcony. Plasus's daughter, Droxine, takes a liking to Spock, fascinated by his exquisite ears, and her interest is initially returned. Another woman, Vanna seems to be interested in Captain Kirk. Vanna, however, is really the rebel leader of the Troglytes and takes Kirk hostage until the city elite meet her demands. Kirk recognizes her as the woman he saw at the mine and begins to question her, but she does not cooperate. She accuses the city-dwellers of using the Enterprise as an intimidation tactic toward her people. Spock, Droxine, and a sentinel arrive, and Vanna is subdued. She is then taken in for interrogation where Plasus has her tortured until she reveals the names and locations of her fellow rebels. Kirk is outraged at Plasus's actions and demands the interrogation stopped. Plasus instead orders Kirk and Spock to leave his city immediately. The two return to the Enterprise where Chief Medical Officer Dr. McCoy reports that unprocessed zienite emits an odorless, invisible gas, which diminishes mental capacity and heightens emotion. Spock believes that the workers serving aboard the floating city have been isolated from the effects of the zienite gas. Instead of being mindless workers toiling away in the mines, they have become aware of their unfair treatment by the higher class. Kirk has special masks made that will filter against the zienite gas and offers Plasus them for his workers; however, Plasus shows no interest. Kirk violates his ban from the city and secretly beams down to Vanna's holding cell. He explains his offer to help her and the other workers achieve equality with the city-dwellers and offers her the masks. Vanna seems interested, and Kirk overpowers a guard, whereupon Vanna and Kirk return to the zienite mines. Once there, however, she grabs Kirk's phaser and takes him hostage again with the help of two other Troglytes, Midro and Anka. The two men would rather see Kirk dead, but Vanna has other plans. Vanna forces Kirk to experience the hardship of the miners and puts him to work digging for zienite. Vanna's men depart, leaving her alone with Kirk, who takes advantage of the situation and regains his phaser. He blasts the ceiling of the mine and seals the only way out. He then contacts the Enterprise to have Plasus found and beamed to his location. An indignant Plasus arrives and Kirk forces him and Vanna to mine for zienite. The effects of the zienite gas become apparent as Kirk becomes more hostile. As the supply of oxygen depletes, Plasus demands to be set free, but Kirk strikes him and the two begin to brawl with mining implements. Vanna, realizing that Kirk was right about the gas after all, manages to find Kirk's communicator and signals the Enterprise to quickly beam them up before the men kill each other. Once the effects of the gas wear off and the three settle down, Kirk offers the masks to Vanna once again. She accepts Kirk's offer in exchange for a supply of the zienite, to which Plasus strongly protests, but realizes he really has no other option. Kirk tells Plasus that the elite and miners must be treated as equal while Vanna vows that her people, who will no longer be impaired by the gas, will demand it even more vigorously now. With the supply of zienite in hand, he and Spock return to the Enterprise. Errors and Explanations Internet Movie Database Plot holes # Plasus rules the Federation planet Ardana as a corrupt petty tyrant, suspending civil liberties and violating basic Federation law. Kirk and Spock can and should arrest Plasus for corruption and enslavement, and grant the Troglytes the inalienable Federation rights which are granted to all sentient beings within jurisdiction. This is not a "Prime Directive" case where the Federation refuses to interfere in non-Federation matters. This way of doing things, depending on Federation versus non-Federation, has been shown time and again in the Trek universe.Plasus may have insisted on regarding the situation as a purely internal matter. Continuity # In the cave, Kirk strikes Plasus with his right hand. It's the same hand which holds his phaser in camera shots before and after the blow, but during the strike the phaser inexplicably disappears. Kirk could have shifted it to either his other hand or his belt. Plot Oversights # The future seems to have some really bad plagues. In Let That Be Your Last Battlefield, the Enterprise had to make like a crop duster and save an entire planet from some sort of bacteriological infestation. Now, in this episode, the Enterprise must hurry to another planet or all its plant life will die. Although we have our problems here on Earth, l can't think of any natural pestilence or disease that has ever threatened to destroy all life on the planet. Either it has mutated, it isn't natural, or both. # Spock claims that Stratos is a completely intellectual society, that all forms of violence have been eliminated. Later, Droxine confirms that the people of Stratos believe this about themselves when she echoes the sentiments. Yet Plasus shows no remorse at torturing Vanna to obtain information about the rebellious Troglytes. Isn't torture a form of violence? (Spock himself refers to it as such.) Perhaps conscious knowledge of the truth has been suppressed somehow. # Spock tells Kirk that the name Troglyte comes from an ancient Earth term. Why would members of an alien planet use terminology from our world to name one of their races? Earth and Stratos may have a shared ancestry, and the Stratonians decided to use the Troglyte term as a form of insult. # After deciding to take matters into his own hands, Kirk beams down to Vanna’s cell, violating Plasus‘s orders. When a guard appears, Kirk pulls out his phaser and flattens himself against a wall. He waits for the man to enter. Many moments later, the guard turns and sees Kirk. The captain then stuns him. Why not stun the guy before he tums around? In that way he couldn't confirm that you were the one who broke Vanna out of jail. Kirk isn't the kind of man to shoot someone in the back. # Instead of calling the Enterprise to beam them down to the planet’s surface, Kirk and Vanna go strolling through Stratos to find a transporter. Kirk can't risk the call being jammed or intercepted. # At the end of the episode, the lovely Droxine - a female raised in the completely genteel world of Stratos, a world flooded with art, music, and beauty - tells Spock that she will go to the mines. She no longer wishes to be confined to the clouds. Yeah, right! Obviously this woman is trying to make points with Spock. There is no way this woman will last very long in the tunnels of the underworld. She’ll get down there - presumably dressed in something other that her Stratos outfit - take one look at the surroundings, daintily pick up a digging tool between her thumb and index finger, and say‘, “Eeewwww.” She will then turn around and head back home.Learning the truth about her father's ruthlessness will likely prompt her to reject her upbringing, and work to improve the lives of the miners. Changed Premises # Spock certainly has changed in the romance department. Maybe it's just because he has finally met a living “work of art." The normally reserved Vulcan offers several scantily hidden compliments to Droxine and even proceeds to tell her about the Vulcan mating rituals. So much for, “It is a thing no out-worlders may know," and “It is a deeply personal thing"—statements made by Spock during his discussion of Pon farr with Kirk (Amok Time). Then again, maybe his brain didn't get hooked up right at the end of Spock's Brain. Spock's reluctance to discuss it in Amok Time could be a side affect of the Pon farr itself. Equipment Oddities # In Kirk's rest area, the intercom faces away from the bed on the far corner of the end table. Evidently inhabitants of Stratos never speak to anyone on the intercom during their rest times.You can't rest properly if you're using an intercom! # The mask that Kirk offers the Troglytes has only a single band to secure it to the face. The band travels up from the mask and over the head. Does this seem secure? (I know the creators were trying to construct something that looked futuristic, but while Kirk wears the thing, it looks as it it's ready to fall off at any moment.) The band is probably designed to contain a solid core to hold the mask in place, combined with a clip attachment in the body of the mask. Category:The Original Series Category:Episodes